410 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 3, 1893. 
the deficiency will be fully 1 cwt. per cow. But Stilton cheise 
makers have done exceeding'y well, prices rule high, be ng quite 
up to the average, as also is the number of cheese. This, at any 
rate, is the case at the largest farm of a Leicestershire estate ; 
some of the smaller tenants may not have done quite so well, 
but on the whole they are thriving, and we have no notices for 
leaving holdings next Ladyday arising out of failure or business 
difficulties. ‘ Nothing,” says a report of the recent Dairy Show 
at Islington, “ can approach the rich flavour of a well-made 
Stilton. Even Frenchmen admit as much.” So that the 
thriving condition of makers of this cheese must be taken 
apart from the general question. 
Very serious indeed is the state of things, if, as we r are 
assured, town milk dealers mix separated milk with new milk 
without risk of detection, their profits upon the separated milk 
so used being at least cent per cent. In the Peak district 
practically the whole of the land is devoted to grazing, the 
holdings being below rather than above an average of 50 acres. 
We recently saw from thirty to forty milk carts at Miller's Dale 
station, each with th: ee or four churns of milk for the Man¬ 
chester dealers. The scene was animated with a brisk business¬ 
like air about it. There was no loitering, the carts being quickly 
unloaded, the milk delivered, empty cans collected, and the 
carts driven off again to the quiet solitary homes of the graziers 
amongst the neighbouring h 11s and dales. If such men are 
suffering from falling prices, as they say they are, who is to 
help them ? To talk to them of butter factories would, upon the 
surface, seem a mere mockery. Yet their case is not so bad as 
was that of Munster farmers in Ireland before they set them¬ 
selves to establish co operative butter fa'tones. With the 
advent of such factories came prosperity with a future to it, and 
not a mere fitful thing of the moment. Good butter is still 
very scarce, difficult to obtain, always being bought up quickly 
whenever it can be had, even in small quantities. We know a 
farm in Leicestershire where as much as Is. 7d. per 
pound was obtained for all that could be made early in autumn, 
the whole of the milk being devoted to it in preference to 
cheese, simply because it was found to be so profitable. 'J here 
is nothing particularly favourab’e to the production of good 
butter in the lind of the farm, fo” that is poor, and is badly 
cultivated; the cows too are decidedly inferior animals, but 
it is just owing to the farmer’s wife being so cleanly and 
skilful. That is the point: given the necessary skill in dairy 
management, with pure wholesome food for the cows, there is 
no insuperable difficulty in the production of good butter. 
What the dalesmen want is a leader in whom they have 
suffic ent confidence to induce them to unite to establish 
factories. There is much ignorance about this matter among 
influential men, who are holding meetings to discuss the situa¬ 
tion and the possibility of doing better. What! ” say they, 
“ graziers establish butter factories! Where is the money to come 
from ? ” “ Shares of £1 per cow ; calls of 2s. or 3s. per share, 
as money is required ; prompt payments for milk, according 
to quality ; half-yearly dividends for the shareholders,” is the 
answer which results in Ireland justify. 
We question if the serious depression in other things besides 
agriculture is fully realised. Taking the district we have 
mentioned there must be much distress from the serious 
decline of the weaving and lace t r ade. At Bradwell there 
appears 1 ttle to do besides mi king and stone-breaking. In 
Bradwell Dale the e are two defunct lead mines ; at Tideswell 
the silk looms are almost all at a standstill ; at Draycott a huge 
lace factory is empty and silent. Any possible resto-ation of 
prosperity rests with agricu’ture. Ic will come as technical 
education mok 3 s its way. We sxv this with confidence, for our 
work in connection with this m vement takes us much among 
the dalesmen. We find them intelligent, earnest, eager for 
information, very energetic, and we are convinced that when 
they once come to realise fully the advantages and possibilities 
of factories all minor difficulties will be swept away. In what 
is before all things a dairy country, it is lamentable that the 
milk trade pure and simple should absorb so much of the 
produce, to the loss of the producers. By all means continue 
and extend the milk trade, but let it be with factories for butter 
and cheese rather than for town consumption. 
In conjunction with this we are bound to strive for improve¬ 
ment in dairy cows ; for real cultivation of pastures, which is a 
very different process to the slipshod practice of throwing 
cow droppings about the pasture as a manure dressing. The 
absurdity of the thing is so apparent that those who do it 
must surely realise how futile these efforts are to produce any¬ 
thing like adequate results. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Two meadows on an upland farm are in such an unsatisfactory 
condition that the landlord has requested us to take them in hand in 
view of seeing whether they can be improved to his advantage and that 
of his tenant. This particular instance of poverty is all the more 
vexatious, because the meadows adjoining them are really good pasture. 
The first step will be taken at once by making drains 7 yards apart and 
about 30 inches deep ; there are then two ways open to impart fertility 
to the land, which is evidently very poor. The first is by sheep-folding 
at once, the second by dressing with chemical manure next February. 
As we shall have to adopt the latter course a strip of surface will be left 
undressed to show exactly the degree of improvement. With tenants 
unable or unwilling to incur the expense of manures, the only course 
open to the owner of the land to improve it in as expeditious and 
reasonable a manner as possible, and to render it worth while for the 
tenant to cling to the holding and to pay a fair interest upon the land¬ 
lord’s outlay. 
Without doing the drainage, which we know to be §o necessary, it 
would be mere waste of money to apply manure. We must have 
thorough water filtration through soil if we would have prompt action 
of manure. The two things are inseparable. It is for this reason that we 
call attention to the importance of making new drains and repairing old 
ones as soon as the pressure of autumn tillage is over. Get the water 
out of the land, store it with plant food, and you will have full crops. 
Rest content with nothing short of this ; it is very simple, and is so 
entirely worth while. See that all water furrows in every ploughed 
field, whether sown with corn or not, have the ends well opened into 
the nearest ditch so as to carry off water quickly. 
Fold draft ewes on grass now, using an hurdle to a sheep, shutting 
them in at dusk, with some food in troughs, and letting them out by 
day. Two nights should suffice for each fold, and much good work is 
quietly done in this manner on uplands and hill farms. We do not 
advise folding in cold damp valleys, or wet land at this season of the 
year. Hill farmers should turn sheep to much better account than they 
do, keeping them in folds whenever it can be managed, always bearing 
in mind that we have no better means both for efficiency and economy 
of storing soil with fertility. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. O'- 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
Date. 
9 A.M. 
In the Day. 
1892. 
October. 
| Barometer 
| at 32°, and 
1 Sea Level. 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion of 
Temp, 
of soil 
at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Rain. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Wind. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
Sunday .. 23 
Inchs. 
29-801 
deg. 
39-3 
deg. 
36-0 
W. 
deg. 
44-0 
deg. 
48-4 
deg. 
31-9 
deg. 
83-4 
deg. 
26-4 
Inchs. 
Monday .. 24 
29-780 
35-3 
32-6 
N.E. 
42-8 
49-3 
29-6 
86-1 
25-1 
0-010- 
Tuesday .. 25 
29-720 
38-7 
38-3 
S.W. 
420 
43-3 
33-9 
50-4 
27-0 
0-023- 
Wednesday 26 
30-101 
34-6 
32-5 
s.w. 
42-3 
47-5 
29-2 
64-3 
22-3 
0-018 
Thursday.. 27 
29-654 
46-4 
44-7 
S.E. 
41-9 
59-2 i 
33-6 
60-7 
29-2 
&-4T1 
Friday .. 28 
29-357 
58-9 
55-9 
S.W. 
44-9 
59-7 
45-7 
63 8 
44 7 
0-384 
Saturday .. 29 
29-391 
58-0 
54-6 
s.w. 
47-7 
60-4 
54-3 
85 4 
48-2 
0-020 
29-658 
44-5 
42 1 
43-7 
525 
36 9 
70-6 
31-8 
0-876 
REMARKS. 
23rd.—Almost cloudless throughout. 
24th.—Bright sunshine till 2 P.M., then generally cloudy. 
25th.—Overcast, with occasional drizzle in the morning ; showery from noon to 
3.30 P.M., then fair again, and bright night. 
26th.—Sunny, with halo in morning; fine afternoon and night. 
27th.—Overcast, with a little rain early; wet from 10 a.m. to 7 30 P.M., and from 9 to 
11 P.M. 
28tli.—Mild and dull, with frequent slight rain early ; incessant rain from 11.30 a.m. to 
8 P.M., and showers after. 
29th.—Mild and unsettled, with occasional sunshine early; showers at 11.30 A.M., 
and noon ; almost continuous bright sunshine after 1 p.m. 
A variable week, cool and rain nearly- every day T .—G. J. Symons. 
